TWELVE
Overthrowingthe Anarchists
Oneof the MostSpeciousIdeasin the Historyof PoliticalPhilosophy
In BookOnewe brieflytoucheduponthe ideologytoutedby libertariananarchists,
whichis sometimescalledanarcho-capitalism,marketanarchy,anarcho-pluralism, andagor-
ism. Its mostwell-knownadherentsincludethe economistsMurrayN. Rothbardand
DavidD. Friedman(MiltonFriedman’s son).It is mostlyon accountof this ideologythat I
do not attachthelibertarianlabelto this trilogy’s argument;I do not intendto dragthe
libertarians’ anarchistbaggagealongwithme.Andto affixcapitalismormarketto the
nameof thisideologyis to providea misnomer;capitalismcan persistandavoidself-
destruction;anarchycannot.For the mostpart,I shalltry to referto the libertarians’
modelsimplyasanarchyand its proponentsasanarchistsor, onceagain,Rothbardians. This
chaptershallprovidefurtherelaborationon whyanarchyis not a viablealternativeto the
nightwatchmanstate.
The anarchistideologyregardsthe institutionof governmentas inherentlyevil.Thus,
the anarchistproclaimsthatanyandeverygovernmentshouldbe abolished.A night
watchmanstateremainsunacceptable.In its stead,peopleshouldbe ableto subscribeto
private,competing,revenue-seeking,protectionrackets—uh; makethat“protection-ser-
vice-providingcompanies.” Onceyou signup for protectionundersucha company,you
contractuallyagreeto followits rules,whichare the protectioncompanies’ equivalentof
legislativestatutes.The anarchistannouncesthatif youare dissatisfiedwiththe compe-
tenceor lawsof DefenseAgencyA, thenyoushouldbe ableto unsubscribefromit and
thensignup yourfamilywithDefenseAgencyB. Rothbardiananarchists,remember,
frequentlyrail aboutthe U.S.Constitutionreplacingthe Articlesof Confederation,as the
U.S.Constitutionsupposedlyplacedgreatercentralauthorityoverthe federalgovern-
mentthandid the pre-1789confederation.Theimplicationis thatdecentralizationof
authorityis inherentlypreferable.Yet, as FareedZakariaremindsus, feudalismwasitself
a highlyoppressivegovernmentsystemin whichthe monarch’s authoritywasdecentral-
ized.Eachlandlordremainedlargelyindependentof the monarch.“Fromthe Middle
Agesuntilthe seventeenth century,Europeansovereignsweredistantcreatureswho
ruledtheirkingdomsmostlyin name.Thekingof France,for example,wasconsidered
onlya dukein Brittanyand had limitedauthorityin that regionfor hundredsof years.In
practiceif monarchswantedto do anything—starta war,builda fort—theyhadto bor-
rowand bargainfor moneyand troopsfromlocalchieftains,whobecameearls,viscounts,
anddukesin the process.”^1 Wereit validto regardthe quantityof libertyas inversely
proportionalto the centralizationof executiveauthority,thenone shouldregardthe Dark
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